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The 1989 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary had a much less proper description for homosexuality.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 23, 2010: An estimated 20 to 25 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Jamaican citizens took to the streets around Emancipation Park for the

first time, wearing rainbow colored feather boas and T-shirts from various pride events in the U.S. The parade lasted for about two hours before the participants needed to disperse for safety reasons.

The 1989 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary defines gay as follows: Addicted to social pleasures and dissipations. Often euphemistically: Of loose or immoral life. Esp. in gay dog, a man given to reveling or self-indulgence; Since 2011, dictionaries entries for gay as a noun, simply read:- Someone who practices homosexuality; having a sexual attraction to persons of the same sex.

IMPORTANT PEOPLE:

Franco Zeffirelli, (born 12 February 1923) is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator (1994–2001) for the Italian centre-right Forza Italia party. He is principally known for his 1968 version of “Romeo and Juliet,” for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, although his 1967 version of “The Taming of the Shrew” (with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) remains the best-known film adaptation of that play as well. His miniseries “Jesus of Nazareth” won acclaim and is still shown on Easter weekend in many countries. He received an honorary knighthood from the British government in 2004 when he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In a 2013 interview with an Italian magazine he said, “I am not gay; I am homosexual. The term gay is a stupid way to describe who we are”. He went on to say, “To be homosexual is a serious undertaking, within ourselves and toward society”.

David Kato Kisule (1964 – 2011) was a Ugandan teacher and LGBT rights activist, considered the father of Uganda's gay rights movement and described as "Uganda’s first openly gay man.” He served as advocacy officer for Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). Kato was murdered in 2011, shortly after winning a lawsuit against a magazine which had published his name and photograph, identifying him as gay and calling for him to be executed.

INTERESTING FACTS:

Arcigay (Italian: Associazione lesbica e gay italiana) is Italy's first and largest national gay organization.

It was founded as a local association in Palermo in 1980, and then nationally established in Bologna in 1985. The organization became known throughout Italy for its campaign for civil unions. Arcigay has often protested against the Vatican's opposition to homosexuality and LGBT rights. Many Italian gay venues require their patrons, both native and foreign, to purchase Arcigay membership, in addition to the admission cost, even those who are just visiting the country for a short time.